Ryan From Pittsburgh

Hello, fellow artist my name is Ryan and I’m a 28 year old with two little girl (19Months and 2Months) with a full time and part time job. I seriously just woke up one day about two weeks ago and was like “I’m going to tattoo”. So I don’t know if it was a dumb move or smart but I instantly bought a apprentice tattoo starter kit that came with a copy of the Apprentice Tattoo Basics book. I seriously didnt put it down and prob read the whole thing in about two hours and loved it & the author (in a non-gay way).

I actually owe the author a “Thank You” in my opinion because I was on the path to being a “Scratcher”. In my mind I really wasnt going to apprentice (not that I didnt think it was important) but I thought I was to busy to get a apprenticeship somewhere. Besides filling me in with the basic fundamentals (like it says on the cover) it really pushed how inportant it is to be clean and how important it is to live by the pencil. So I took a blood borne pathogens course & test (which was like common sense to me) and really just started drawing anything I could. I could have one of my babys in my arms and a pencil in my hand. So within a week I had a decent portfolio of my own pencil drawn clip art and certificate (these two things in my opinion are not hard and everyone even a Scratcher should do).

I can say I seriously hit the jackpot for my area with my tattoo artist. Chris Blick the owner of American Tattoo here in Pittsburgh and I’ve been going to him for about 10 years now and in the past 4 years I go the first Monday of every month (since he has about a year long waiting list). Him and his shop are very well knowed in this area and nationally. I can also say my work I have from him is beyond amazing and I’m hoping to win some awards at some tattoo conventions I plan on attending in the near future.

Well, this past Monday was my usual monthly tattoo appointment and I went in kinda spying on his set up from his inks to his cleaners. I didnt know if I was going to tell him or not about my new addiction I mean at this point I have only tattooed fruit/pig skin and I was more scared of being tagged as a “scratcher”. But he started talking about different needles configurations to one of his artist who works for him and I butted in the conversation with a little bit of knowledge of needles and from there I just spilled my guts to the guy. But the number one thing I think he really liked and knew I was serious was when I told him I have my blood borne pathogens certificate. He totally opened up to me the instant he saw that I was somewhat educated in the field and answered every single question I had and gave me a biohazard bin/plastic sleeves for my cords. He also welcomed me to come to his shop to watch him. It actually worked out nicely because my baby momma #1 (yes, I have 2) had a appointment the next day with one of his other artist. So being on good terms with her I asked if she cared if I came just so I could see Chris again. I told Chris I was thinking about tattooing myself and he said he thought I was a good enough artist that I would be fine and if I wanted to do it there I was welcome to.

So I went to the works on my lower leg and learned more than I ever thought I would. Some of the angles were tough for me to hit because I couldnt see the needle but I got a really nice and solid outline. I can’t wait to color it in and possibly add both my daughters name in script. Script kinda scares me right now though and it is prob the #1 thing I should start practicing more of. Anyways, my tattoo artist was really happy with my work on myself and once again said come down whenever you want. So I told him I dont have alot of free time due to having kids and working but I wanted to do this more than anything and he said I could apprentice there as long as I realize that I can’t take up the customers time since they are paying good $$$ to get ink done.

I have SO MUCH TO LEARN but I would have never dreamed of being on the right track that I am on now in so little time.